Bud dryer - manicured to smoke in 3 days

timmythetooth

Active Member
ok quick question - do you need the heat? i have space in my flower room as its 9'5" high. I just wanna put a small dryer with a fan sucking air out and small airholes ontop so that there no light. will this work? i cant risk my buds stinking up my apt.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Al, have read many, many of your threads from front to back, and seeing as you're still popping in here from time to time, I'd just like to say thanks.

From the heart, no bullshit, thanks.
Thanks muchly. :)
Gonna make a box without a heater (three extra days isn't a big deal to me), and I'll post pics at a later date.
Cool. It'll still work OK, the air motion will stop mould from forming, just make sure the racks allow a lot of air to get around the buds. 1/2" hardware cloth makes fine drying racks.

But seriously, for your selfless work, thanks.
You're quite welcome. :)

And not sure about your drug use at this point in time, but if you'd like to accidentally smoke or snort or ingest any drug in any way and are on the east coast (along the BOS-WASH corridor), drop me a PM.
My drug use is a real problem. That is to say, I never have enough drugs- and that's a problem. :lol:

I'll keep you in mind should I ever go to the USA again. :)

ok quick question - do you need the heat? i have space in my flower room as its 9'5" high. I just wanna put a small dryer with a fan sucking air out and small airholes ontop so that there no light. will this work? i cant risk my buds stinking up my apt.
As I just said to Bob, it'll work without heat. Organise a fan as an exhaust, 100-120mm is fine, connect it via suitable ducts (dryer vent hose works OK) feeding into a carbon filter or an Odorsok. Mind you, having a heater (with a thermostat controlling heat to 29C max) will dry the buds much faster than without- and the faster you get the buds dry and into bags, the less chance there is for scent to be wafting around your apt.
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Thanks, Bob. :)

However, you should know that I think that I've become allergic to airplanes- and especially those going to the US. Beastly place, so uncivilised- but for you, of course. ;)
 

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Thanks, Bob. :)

However, you should know that I think that I've become allergic to airplanes- and especially those going to the US. Beastly place, so uncivilised- but for you, of course. ;)
Take some Sudafed - it'll be worth your while, trust me.

My girl's got some hot friends, it'll be gravy :blsmoke:
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
@Bob Smith: mmmm.... hot girls with gravy! Too bad Sudafed spoils my appetite. :lol:

@D4rKeN: thanks, gets the job done. :)
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Do you have any other heating source instead of a soldering iron??
My dryer does not use a soldering iron as a heating element. It uses 6 x 25W power resistors. Back in the mists of time, someone asked me for a heating element that would be simpler to use than a bank of resistors, so I suggested using a 25W soldering iron heating element. In retrospect, that would not have been quite enough to keep the airflow through the dryer at the optimal 29C.







This is my bud dryer's schematic, in rev. 2.1.

Note the bank of resistors are now in series-parallel.

A previous version used 2.3k ohm resistors wired in simple parallel. The dimmer doesn't quite pass the full 240V even when fully on (about 205V), so the 2.3k resistors didn't get quite 25W dropped across each one, meaning they didn't get as warm as they possibly could for a 25W resistor. This meant that when ambient air temps outside the dryer were quite low (in winter, as low as about 12C), the airflow out of heater would not come up to the optimal 29C.

So, to make sure I could get the full 25W across each resistor with a 205V supply coming out of the dimmer, I decided to shoot the values a bit lower. The ideal value for 25W @ 205V would have been 1681 ohms. However, I couldn't get 1681 ohm resistors as that's not a standard value.

Instead, I bought 6x 680 ohm, 25W units and organised them in 3 seriesed banks, each bank being 1360 ohms. At 205V, this drops about 30W across each resistor, just a tick too high. To compensate, I use the dimmer to dial back the voltage to about 184V, which sets the power at precisely 25W per resistor.

In this form, the heater can bring the temp inside the dryer to 29C even when ambient air temps are very low. The thermostat maintains the airflow at exactly 29C at all times, independent of the intake air temp.
 

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Al, not related to the bud dryer, but have a couple of quick questions, if you wouldn't mind:

1) I saw in your other thread that you thought that Rapid Rooters were not good for E&F, because they were made of organic material that would be broken down by H2O2 - do you still feel this way? I imagine the answer is "yes", just wanna check..........

2) I'm planning an expansion soon, to either a 4x8 table with 2 1Ks or four 3x3 tables with 4 600s (in an 8x8 tent) - if money, time, and space were no object, which would you pick and why?

P.S. - check out my video of my "new" setup on Youtube if you wanna see what idiotic Americans do with their free time..............
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
1) I saw in your other thread that you thought that Rapid Rooters were not good for E&F, because they were made of organic material that would be broken down by H2O2 - do you still feel this way? I imagine the answer is "yes", just wanna check..........
Yeah, I'm still not fond of them and never will be. They're unsuitable for any recirculating hydro system. First, being organic material, they'll support mould growth. Second, in inorganic hydro systems which use H2O2, organic matter will break down and fragment. The fragments can clog pumps.


2) I'm planning an expansion soon, to either a 4x8 table with 2 1Ks or four 3x3 tables with 4 600s (in an 8x8 tent) - if money, time, and space were no object, which would you pick and why?
I'd choose the 2x 1000s due to lower per watt ballast losses and greater intensity, especially when used with cooltubes. A 1000HPS when running draws 4.62A @ 240V (1108W) from the mains, so a pair will draw 2216W. 600s draw about 2.9A @ 240V, about 696W, 2784W for four. The wattages are similar at 120V, but the currents are doubled. A 1000 will deliver about 150,000 lumens. 600s make about 90,000. In cooltubes, the 1000 can be spaced just as close as a 600, so the 1000 will put much more intensity on the plants, giving greater bud density. Also, cooltubes should be organised so there's no more than 2 cooltubes in series. For 4x 600, you'll need not only 4 cooltubes, but two fans to drive them and a lot of ducting.

P.S. - check out my video of my "new" setup on Youtube if you wanna see what idiotic Americans do with their free time..............
Will if I can, a bit busy at the mo.
 

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I'm still not fond of them and never will be. They're unsuitable for any recirculating hydro system. First, being organic material, they'll support mould growth. Second, in inorganic hydro systems which use H2O2, organic matter will break down and fragment. The fragments can clog pumps.




I'd choose the 2x 1000s due to lower per watt ballast losses and greater intensity, especially when used with cooltubes. A 1000HPS when running draws 4.62A @ 240V (1108W) from the mains, so a pair will draw 2216W. 600s draw about 2.9A @ 240V, about 696W, 2784W for four. The wattages are similar at 120V, but the currents are doubled. A 1000 will deliver about 150,000 lumens. 600s make about 90,000. In cooltubes, the 1000 can be spaced just as close as a 600, so the 1000 will put much more intensity on the plants, giving greater bud density. Also, cooltubes should be organised so there's no more than 2 cooltubes in series. For 4x 600, you'll need not only 4 cooltubes, but two fans to drive them and a lot of ducting.



Will if I can, a bit busy at the mo.
Thank you kindly; really want the four 600s, but it seems like two 1Ks make the most sense.

Grrrrrr...................the 600 setup is certainly more expensive (by a lot), but I'm really in love with four lights to hit the plants from every angle.

I'll give it some more thought :-?
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Thank you kindly; really want the four 600s, but it seems like two 1Ks make the most sense.

Grrrrrr...................the 600 setup is certainly more expensive (by a lot), but I'm really in love with four lights to hit the plants from every angle.

I'll give it some more thought :-?
Well, whatever blows your hair back, man. :D You'll get fine results either way.

It's just more exxy to run 4x600, especially in acquisition, as you note. It's also another ~600W out of the mains to run the 4x600 arrangement, which adds up to +7.2kWh/day. I pay 16c/kWh, so it would be another $1.16/day (34.56/mo) in power cost. Adds up.

However, if all is going well for you, $35/mo is a pretty insignificant cost. Consider also that either the 2x1000 or 4x600 arrangement will yield almost exactly the same.

While you may be enamoured of more point sources of light, it probably won't break your arms to turn plants around now and again. If you're using batwing reflectors (like the large Adjust-A-Wings refs), which spread light quite well, you may not even have to turn plants.
 

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Well, whatever blows your hair back, man. :D You'll get fine results either way.

It's just more exxy to run 4x600, especially in acquisition, as you note. It's also another ~600W out of the mains to run the 4x600 arrangement, which adds up to +7.2kWh/day. I pay 16c/kWh, so it would be another $1.16/day (34.56/mo) in power cost. Adds up.

However, if all is going well for you, $35/mo is a pretty insignificant cost. Consider also that either the 2x1000 or 4x600 arrangement will yield almost exactly the same.

While you may be enamoured of more point sources of light, it probably won't break your arms to turn plants around now and again. If you're using batwing reflectors (like the large Adjust-A-Wings refs), which spread light quite well, you may not even have to turn plants.
Like you said, the power draw is nothing I'd be too worried about, in all honesty.

The main issue is the $1.5K in upgrade costs vs. the $4K in upgrade costs, but again, that can be recouped fairly quickly.

I also like that I could lower the one light for weeks 0-2 in order to decrease stretching - that's one of the bigger selling points to me, in all honesty.

Can't do that with one 1K covering two trays.

And finally, in regards to "breaking my arms", I'm a lazy friggen stoner :weed:

Thanks again for your input, my friend. :joint:
 

DarkCursade

Active Member
Hi, Al B. Fuct Im not sure if your still floating around on the site.

I have read through most of your threads, but I have not come across my following question, with your system, when you 1st put the clones in the flowering cycle how deep to you plant in the rock wool pot to allow water to reach the roots when u flood, as Im finding, as when i put my new rooted clones in tray 1 they dont have the root depth for my flood and drain tray without vegin them for a week and hand watering them from the top.

Also this may seem like an odd question, but what country to u live in? As I seen you post somewhere that you dont live in the USA, and I thought most people here lived in the states. :hump:

Also If anybody else has any input that would be great...:hump:
 

Bob Smith

Well-Known Member
Hi, Al B. Fuct Im not sure if your still floating around on the site.

I have read through most of your threads, but I have not come across my following question, with your system, when you 1st put the clones in the flowering cycle how deep to you plant in the rock wool pot to allow water to reach the roots when u flood, as Im finding, as when i put my new rooted clones in tray 1 they dont have the root depth for my flood and drain tray without vegin them for a week and hand watering them from the top.

Also this may seem like an odd question, but what country to u live in? As I seen you post somewhere that you dont live in the USA, and I thought most people here lived in the states. :hump:

Also If anybody else has any input that would be great...:hump:
He is, was here a half hour ago, actually.

You want your rockwool to be 1/2" above the flood line, or it will stay saturated.

Sometimes in E&F handwatering is required (and I believe Al himself said that he's had to do it from time to time, but that you should water around the rockwool to encourage the roots to grow down into whatever your other media is - I'm assuming it's hydroton or coco or something, because if it was rockwool you wouldn't be having this problem).

Al resides in a mountain cave in Australia, I believe :weed:

Al, please set me straight if any of this is incorrect.............
 

Al B. Fuct

once had a dog named
Like you said, the power draw is nothing I'd be too worried about, in all honesty.

The main issue is the $1.5K in upgrade costs vs. the $4K in upgrade costs, but again, that can be recouped fairly quickly.
If the cost doesn't stress you, then flip a coin. It'll work well either way.

I also like that I could lower the one light for weeks 0-2 in order to decrease stretching - that's one of the bigger selling points to me, in all honesty.

Can't do that with one 1K covering two trays.
Well, that's how my op is organised- 2x 1000 over 4 trays. New clones being introduced to flowering have previously only been under fluoros in my clone box, so I don't mind them having a bit of additional spacing for the 1st 2 wks.

And finally, in regards to "breaking my arms", I'm a lazy friggen stoner :weed:
And that's the most persuasive argument of all! :D
 

DarkCursade

Active Member
mmm I thought hand watering was going to be the case. I actually am Using all perlite and cubes, an Aussie LOL explains his sense of humour. :hump:
 
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